(Pseudo-) Ecologists and associated politicians go all around, claiming “carbon net zero” will be achieved soon, brandishing various dates: 2035, 2050, 2060. The latter number is that recently proposed by China. It is, like the others, a lie: pretending that China will stop emitting CO2 by 2060 depends upon equipping fossil fuel plans with mystery “Carbon Capture” mechanisms… Which do not exist (as plausibly economical candidates; right one could inject all the CO2 one produces underground, but that’s possible only in particular geological formations and rocks, and would eat up most of the energy produced…).
In the “West” the myth has it that plenty of solar panels and windmills will solve everything. What about times, in winter, when there is no sun, and no wind, for months sometimes? Oh, no problems say the fools, we have gas and coal, and oil. So basically the fools say that, if one has windmills and panels all over, one needs to keep a 100% fully functional fossil fuel industry as a back-up. But it cost energy to build windmills and solar panels (using energy from coal in… China…) Are they foolish, or are they dishonest? Maybe both…
Anyway, here is the result: one can see British power prices get multiplied by more than 12 (twelve) in a year or so… And German power prices by more than six…
So is the solar panel plus windmills revolution just a deliberate trick to keep fossil fuels around longer? Making projection of non-existing, and hard to conceive, “Carbon Capture” part of “Carbon Net Zero” predictions, is certainly such a trick: it enables China to build one new energy producing coal plant each week… while claiming they will become no net emitters of CO2… soon… thanks to the mystery CC mechanism… Much of that coal energy is used to build US solar panels…
Nuclear energy is a full replacement for fossil fuels, 24/7. Solar, plus windmills, plus hydrogen (or derivatives: ammonia, methanol, etc.) can work, too, but… one would need to develop an entire “green hydrogen” economy… It can be done, like nuclear and thermonuclear… But money has to be spent. Instead, the crafty Biden wants to spend 74 billion dollars on electric plugs and nearly thirteen thousand dollars in subsidies for each electric car that the wealthy will purchase… Presumably so the latter can drive around in fake ecological style… In truth, all these spending on useless pseudo-ecology enables to persist with fossil fuels. Right now in California, under an order of governor Newsom, electricity is generated from oil. So, right now, electric cars, in California, are mostly propelled by oil… rather inefficiently… even before considering they are enormously heavy vehicles, thanks to their battery packs… hard to launch and hard to stop…
But let little African children digging for cobalt enable righteous hyper wealthy ecologists drive around in show-off, pseudo-ecological vehicles: this shows how powerful they are, and great their virtue!
A preferred method to renew conspiracies, is to play dumb. But conspiracies are not plots, or, more exactly, not everybody engaged in a conspiracy is conscious of the unfolding plot…
So most ecologists involved in the conspiracy to renew fossil fuels thanks to renewables, may be too dumb to guess that there is a plot in the works, indeed. In this case the plot is to act renewable, when actually what is promoted, in the end, is ever more fossil fuels…
Patrice Ayme
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From Wall Street Journal:
Energy Prices in Europe Hit Records After Wind Stops Blowing
Heavy reliance on wind power, coupled with a shortage of natural gas, has led to a spike in energy prices.
Natural gas and electricity markets were already surging in Europe when a fresh catalyst emerged: The wind in the stormy North Sea stopped blowing.
The sudden slowdown in wind-driven electricity production off the coast of the U.K. in recent weeks whipsawed through regional energy markets. Gas and coal-fired electricity plants were called in to make up the shortfall from wind.
Natural-gas prices, already boosted by the pandemic recovery and a lack of fuel in storage caverns and tanks, hit all-time highs. Thermal coal, long shunned for its carbon emissions, has emerged from a long price slump as utilities are forced to turn on backup power sources.
The episode underscored the precarious state the region’s energy markets face heading into the long European winter. The electricity price shock was most acute in the U.K., which has leaned on wind farms to eradicate net carbon emissions by 2050….
[Meanwhile Europe, with Biden’s assent, augmented its dependency upon Russian gas delivered by autocrat Putin… By building a new pipeline… Trump had frowned upon it…]
In electricity markets, the cost of generation at the most expensive supplier determines prices for everyone. That means that when countries derive power from thermal plants with comparatively high running costs, it boosts prices for the whole market. Operating costs at fossil-fuel power plants are high right now after a relentless climb in prices for gas, coal and carbon permits.
Energy prices could shoot even higher if cool temperatures stop gas stores replenishing before the period of peak winter demand, said Tom Lord, a carbon trader at U.K.-based Redshaw Advisors. “You’ve got a gas market that’s extremely tight,” he said.
Electricity, gas, coal and carbon markets have a way of feeding on one another. High gas prices prompted utilities to burn more coal, so they had to buy more emissions allowances. Expensive carbon permits then prodded energy companies to turn back to gas, whose price rose again because the fuel is in short supply.
The feedback loop has the potential to ripple into the broader economy. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde this month referred to energy markets as one of the main forces driving inflation higher.
Wind accounted for about a quarter of Great Britain’s power last year, according to the system operator National Grid. After the wind dropped this month, National Grid asked Électricité de France SA to restart its West Burton A coal power station in Nottinghamshire. That won’t be possible in the future: The government has said all coal plants must close by late 2024.
In France, most electricity is produced by nuclear power. So Britain imports French electricity. However:
To be sure, abundant wind power has at times led to periods of cheap electricity. This month, however, U.K. wind farms produced less than one gigawatt on certain days, according to Mr. Konstantinov. Full capacity stands at 24 gigawatts. Maintenance work on subsea cables restricted electricity imports from France….
Winners include U.S. and Russian companies exporting gas to Europe… Shares of Cheniere Energy Inc., a major U.S. exporter of liquefied natural gas, have risen 47% this year.
Patrice Ayme's Thoughts 